Starlight Polish | Aurora Top Coats

Okay, this post is about to be one big hot mess featuring some pretty shifty toppers. I have either three or four posts queued, but this is going to be the big one. We’re going to start this week off with a bang! The lovely Issa from Starlight Polish contacted me a few weeks about some upcoming releases and y’all. They’re divine. So let’s get right in!

All of my swatches show one coat over black polish. For my base, I used two coats of OPI’s Black Onyx from the Infinite Shine gel line over Vapid. Lacquer’s Commitment Issues peel off base coat and topped each one with Seche Vite.

Aurora Top Coats ($9 for 15mL and $4 for 5mL individually or $32 full/$14 mini) – Because iridescent glitters tend to hide over black polish, I also used some matte tc over the top to pull out the pretty colors!

Aurora Australis; named after the Southern Lights, and shifts from orange through green. Pictures of the Southern Lights frequently show beautiful shades of red, orange, yellow, and green. In my lighting, this pulled gold, and it’s gorgeous, especially matte! I love how subtle it is. My dumb ass tried to find a way to reuse my black base since it stains my cuticles so easily, and it failed. Horribly. The peel-off that I used bunched up as soon as I used Seche on top. I had redone a few of these swatches already, and to get my photos done before the launch, I left it.

Aurora Borealis; named after the Northern Lights, and shifts from cool-toned green through blue. Pictures of the Northern Lights frequently show shades ranging from bright green through violet, but the few times [I’ve] glimpsed it myself, it’s been shades of blue and green. The blues and greens, oh my word. Over black, it’s like glimpses of sea life in the depths of the ocean. I definitely could have done a second coat, but I like the sparseness of the glitters.

Venusian Aurora; named after Venus’s diffuse aurora effect (not concentrated at the poles, as Venus lacks magnetic poles), which is believed to be caused by solar flares, and looks green from Earth. Venusian Aurora shifts from light green through gold. Ever watch the live feeds of the Earth from the space station? This makes me think of that! So pretty, yeah?

Jovian Aurora; named after the intense auroras of Jupiter, and the color choice inspired by images of Jupiter’s northern aurora from the Hubble in ultraviolet and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Jovian Aurora shifts from light blue through violet. Be still, my heart! This one is definitely my favorite. The violet shift is so subtle, but friggen stellar. Unf.

Phoenix Aurora; iridescent glitters that shift from orange through green and shimmer that shifts from red to gold to green. It’s the counterpart to Aurora Australis and contains the same pigment used in Starlight Polish’s other Phoenix-named polishes. Mmmh. Oaky, warm, shifty, goodness. I don’t know if that sounds appealing at all, but it’s pretty. Just trust me. The glitters in it too? Hot damn, y’all. Hot. Damn.

Dragon Aurora; glitters that shift from light green through gold and the shimmer shifts from bronze gold to green. It’s the counterpart to Venusian Aurora and contains the same pigment used in Starlight Polish’s other Dragon-named polishes. Check out the shift in that second photo! It’s legit like dragon scales. ALL THE YAAAAASSSS.

Unicorn Aurora; has glitter that shifts from cool-toned green through blue and the shimmer shifts from cool green to deep blue. It’s the counterpart to Aurora Borealis and contains the same pigment used in Starlight Polish’s other Unicorn-named polishes. Okay, so this one is effing magical. I mean. Unicorn Aurora. The name is perfect. I love how the glitters pull blue against green shimmer!

Kelpie Aurora; glitters that shift from light blue through violet, and the shimmer shifts from aqua to violet. It’s the counterpart to Jovian Aurora and contains the same pigment used in Starlight Polish’s other Kelpie-named polishes. This one pulls emerald on me in my lighting and pairs so beautifully with the violet-shifting glitters. I could get lost staring at this one all night.

Unicorn; shifts from cool green to deep blue, and flashes turquoise and vivid indigo at the extremes of its color range. I’m amazed at how pigmented these are. I mean. I know it’s straight pigment in a base (shit, Jenalyn, that’s what polish is, hush), but these all only took one coat! Without me knowing that I used a black base, I would totally think that these polishes are standalone. This green unicorn is mythical and magical and everything right in the world.

Dragon; shifts from bronze gold to green, and flashes orange and teal at the extremes of its color range. Holy effballs. That green shift is another thing that’s right with this world. That, paired with the bronze? I need a cold shower. I mean, if you need to step away for one as well, I’ll wait. Go on.

Phoenix; shifts from red to gold to green, and flashes vivid red and bright green at the extremes of its color range. As soon as I tipped my hand back in the light, my mind instantly pictured a tiger eye stone, it’s incredible. It’s warm and beautiful and reminiscent of autumn.

Kelpie; shifts from aqua to violet, and flashes teal green and purple at the extremes of its color range. Kelpie and Unicorn share similar spectrums of color shift, but Kelpie is bluer than Unicorn and its shift goes further into purple than Unicorn’s does. Y’all. I know you see how different the two photos are, it’s wild. THAT’S THE SAME DAMN POLISH. I’m shook. Straight. Shook.

All of these toppers are absolutely breathtaking, honestly. They’ve each got some similar components, whether it’s the shared pigment, or the glitters, but they each transform the base that they’re over so completely differently. Issa has done a kick ass job, you guys.

These are available now over at her shop, Starlight and Sparkles! While you’re there, be sure to check out the other pretties in her shop. Issa’s got some beautiful holos that I’m itching to get my hands on!